Monday, 30 March 2009

Justice Seen Justice Done - 'social punishment' as UK government lets public vote on community payback

Under the slogan 'Justice Seen, Justice Done' the UK government is now giving the public the chance to vote on what 'Community Payback' / punishments should be handed out to the 55,000 recipients of community order sentences in England and Wales each year.

Justice Seen, Justice Done slogan

Through the website at direct.gov.uk/communitypayback internet users can vote on which local community projects (from a choice of 5) they want offenders to pursue. Voting runs until midnight on 24th April and the 'winners' will be announced shortly afterwards.

Community Payback - 'A positive change for the community. A punishment for criminals.'(click for larger image)

This is a great example of how 'social thinking' can be added to anything - though I'm yet to be convinced that the criminal justice system should be turned into some sort of X-Factor / Idol variant?